Basketball

No. 17 Florida Gators basketball (24-8) was embarrassed on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the 2017 SEC Tournament as the Vanderbilt Commodores (19-14) completed a rare three-game season sweep of the event’s No. 2 seed with a 72-62 overtime win at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.

OnlyGators.com breaks down the latest loss below.

It was over when … After ending regulation on a 9-1 run, Florida was outscored 12-1 to open overtime, finding itself down 11 with two minutes left in the game. The Gators didn’t make a field goal in OT until there was 52.6 seconds left, while allowing the Commodores to go 5-for-5 from the field in the five-minute period.

First half focus: Vanderbilt made six of its first 11 threes as Florida started 1-for-7 from beyond the arc. Though the Gators started the half well and lead by six midway through the period, they fell behind by seven while making just 2-of-13 shots as the Commodores went on an explosive 13-2 run. UF actually missed 11 of its last 15 field goals to end the half and allowed an easy alley-oop with just seconds remaining to face a five-point deficit entering the break.

Second half salvo: Florida evened things up at 42 but saw that effort wiped out as it went without a field goal for 7:35, allowing Vanderbilt to go back up seven with over five minutes to play. It looked dire for the Gators until the final 3:15 of regulation as they put together a tremendous 9-1 run with multiple chances to win the game down the stretch. Junior forward Devin Robinson and sophomore guard KeVaughn Allen hit back-to-back threes to tie the game with 1:42 to play, and the teams each went 1-for-2 from the line to have it knotted at 58 with 9.7 seconds left. UF had the final possession but missed two shots as senior point guard Kasey Hill drove to the hoop and missed a layup, and sophomore center Kevarrius Hayes was blocked as he attempted to put back the rebound.

Exceptional efforts: Though Allen only went 5-for-16 from the field on Friday, the Gators would not have been in the game without him draining 4-of-11 threes and keeping them in the game late. Robinson also posted a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds on the evening.

Significant stats: Florida shot an atrocious 34.4 percent from the field and 26.1 percent from beyond the arc, in large part due to a total lack of bench scoring, which has been a halmark for the Gators’ success this season. UF was outscored 19-13 off the pine by VU.

Odds and ends: Florida is 0-5 against Vanderbilt under White with three losses by two points or less and another in OT … UF is now 17-48 against VU in Nashville … the loss was White’s 11th against an unranked opponent over the last two seasons, second straight to Vanderbilt … the Dores have now swept the Gators in a three-game season series three times with 2017 joining 1982 and 1990 … Hill went 5-for-16 from the field, missing a number of layups, though he only committed a single turnover … second-leading scorer Canyon Barry, a graduate transfer guard, missed all three of his shots and did not get to the line, posting no points on the evening … Vanderbilt made 11-of-27 threes and 13-of-17 free throws … VU outscored UF 14-4 in OT

What it means: The Gators have now dropped three of their last four games and fall to 3-3 without redshirt junior center John Egbunu, who is out for the season with a torn ACL. Florida went form a possible No. 3 seed in the 2017 NCAA Tournament to a team that may lose out on a No. 4 seed and potentially not play opening round games in Orlando, Florida, as expected.

Up next: The 2017 NCAA Tournament begins next Thursday, and Florida will learn its fate on Sunday evening after conference tournaments conclude.

The loss of Egbunu is really showing up. If you can’t hit your outside shot, you can work it inside but without Egbunu we have nothing. That said, overall it has been a great season and while a disappointing finish, the Gators have no reason to hang their heads. They gave a good effort and hopefully will have a decent run in the NCAA.

I think Canyon Barry’s injury also plays a big part. He, along with Allen, seemed to be the only 2 players that can consistently create their own shots and finish (Kasey Hill can create, but can almost never finish). However, since the injury, he has just disappeared in some games. If we want to make any kind of run in the tournament, Barry needs to get back to his old form and Kasey Hill needs to hit some shots.

Never a real Kasey Hill fan, to much of yo-yo player…I think the ball handling is much better with Chris Chiozza, he is very quick, fast and an excellent passer of the basketball. It seems that Canyon Barry’s injury has affected his
play…seems since his return his efforts have been to many “lean in” shots, hoping to draw a foul. KeVaughn Allen is the best pure shooter we have, in my opinion, so why not let him take the last shot!!! I do believe that Keith Stone can be an excellent player once the game slows down a little for him. I do question some of Coach White’s game management; however he is the one making the big bucks…and is the SEC COTY…but just saying!!!

I agree that the team seems to play better with Chiozza running the point and he definitely is quick with the fast break. His no look passes that go straight to the other team can be frustrating at times.

Coach White is a good coach and we will see that in the long run. I don’t want this to seem as a knock on any of our players because it’s not. We don’t have any truly great players. This is a good team that is greater than the sum of its parts. White is doing the best with what he’s got. He has the players buying into the system and they still play very good defense. It’s the offense that can be the problem at times. Once White has a few years of his recruits, we are going to be very good every year.

Allen is a truly great player. Unless by “truly great” you mean some one like Lebron James or Michael Jordan and they come along once every 25 years and rarely does a college team have anyone like that.

They selected the coach of the year too soon. And I disagree about Allen. He has taken some horrible shots late in games this year and missed everyone of them, not to mention some crucial late turnovers. UF’s problem is no inside presence (it’s like Hayes isn’t even on the floor), Robinson’s inconsistency (he’s the fool of the century if he declares), and Canyon’s disappearance. When UF was on a roll, Canyon was on fire. He’s now playing more like the worst 6th man in the league.

Good lord. Classic Gator Nation over reaction. Now Coach White, the team and every one on it sucks.

That said, I don’t think this was Coach White’s best game. Clearly Vandy needed to be pressed. That’s how we finally caught up and that’s how we got into overtime. And then we start overtime laying back again, inexplicably, and got blown out in the extra period.

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